Futurama has returned to screens with a brand new season of the long running animated series, so now it’s time to look back on Season 13 and see how well it has done. Futurama has been working its way through a brand new era with Hulu, and the first two seasons of its revival have not been received as well as some of the episodes in the past. It meant that coming into Season 13, long time fans had been wondering whether or not the animated series was going to be able to hit the same kinds of heights that its more classic eras were easily able to do.
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Futurama Season 13 is the strongest run of episodes since the series revived with Hulu, so going back with each one to figure out the weakest and strongest entries was a lot tougher this time around. The creative team and cast has really found their groove with the animated series once more, and it’s resulted in a great line up for a season. Read on for our ranking of Futurama Season 13’s episodes from the weakest to the strongest of its offerings.
10.) Murderoni
Futurama Season 13 has a few episodes that continue to tackle present day topics, but thankfully unlike previous seasons these topics are more generalized and changed to fit the show itself rather than the other way around. “Murderoni” features an election story where people accuse a pizza place of having an insidious basement secret, but the show goes the extra mile to tie it back into Fry’s past at Pannucci’s Pizza. There’s a fun bit of fan service as a result, and there’s an appropriately gross reveal at the end of it all when the secret to its tasty pepperoni is revealed. Also the running gag addressing the fact Fry hasn’t washed his pants in like 20 years is just classic Futurama.
9.) The Numberland Gap
“The Numberland Gap” is one of the more visually complex episodes of the season overall, and goes back to the show’s roots of finding the humor within a math problem and blowing it up to a whole new degree. It’s also an existential crisis for the Professor as he’s entranced by numbers, and it leads to a whole new world where all of these numbers exist with distinct personalities of their own. It deals with a lot of more educational topics, but uses the nature of imaginary numbers to help bring those concepts down to Earth (and help them be easier to understand for comedy’s sake). It also just has a great emotional resolution for the Professor too.
8.) The Trouble with Truffles
There are only a couple of episodes this season that solely focus on Bender, and one of them takes him off planet to explore the lucrative world of truffles. This episode not only introduces fans to one of Futurama’s most adorable characters yet, Jambone, but once again takes the opportunity to have Bender bonding with an unexpected character. On top of this, the episode is just packed to the brim with hilarious gags like the Robot Mafia’s involvement in everything, a tribute to the show’s biggest eaters, and more. It’s just such a fun idea.
7.) Fifty Shades of Green
There are a few plots this season that focus on the changing dynamic between Fry and Leela. Now that the two have since become an official couple, Futurama has started to explore new ideas that challenge whether or not they’re actually a good match. This is directly the case with “Fifty Shades of Green” as Fry finds out that he’s apparently not Leela’s scientific match. The subsequent rest of the episode deals with Fry’s insecurity about that, and it never really gets old. Even if the resolution is likely always going to be the same as Leela helps to affirm to Fry that she’s not going anywhere. But seeing Fry teaming up with Leela’s scientific soulmate does make for some fun shenanigans either way.
6.) Scared Screenless
There’s unfortunately only one episode this season that features Zapp Brannigan, but it’s a great use of him. Previous Hulu seasons have made the mistake of steering too much into the Brannigan shenanigans as the anchor of an episode, but here in “Scared Screenless” he’s instead running the titular camp meant to get kids away from their screens. This is also the only episode of the season that features a Cubert and Dwight story, and the kids (and Bender for hilarity’s sake) find themselves hooked to their devices only for it to save their lives later. There’s some great fan service here with even more members of the extended Waterfall family thrown into the mix and some hilarious gags.
5.) Crab Splatter
The last thing Futurama fans ever expected to see in recent years has been the rise of Dr. Zoidberg as a core element of a dramatic story. That’s the case here as he ends up being adopted by Leela’s parents, and it forms an unlikely sibling bond between the two. It’s such a fun idea that the series can keep using their sibling connection for jokes later down the line, but it never really has to have that much weight in any future episode. This one made sure to really get that the heart of both Zoidberg and Leela wanting a family, and it hilariously ties them together right down to their genetic makeup. It’s such a fun idea that we won’t be able to wait to see how it gets used next.
4.) The World Is Hot Enough
“The World Is Hot Enough” is a fun spiritual sequel to Season 4’s classic “Crimes of the Hot,” and is all the better for the update. With the series addressing just how much worse global warming has begun since it first tackled the idea years ago (with only one single ice block left to drop into the ocean), Futurama finds a fun new way to bring it all to life for the modern era. Not only does it include new data from more recent years to further emphasize the severity of the situation, but it’s also a resolution that really just goes with the motions for comedy’s sake. There’s also some genuine bits of emotion here when Fry and Leela think they’re going to be separated forever, and even then there’s still time for quick (and very funny) jokes.
3.) Destroy Tall Monsters
Futurama Season 13 gets off to a very strong start with an episode all about Bender. Returning to one of its best Anthology of Interest ideas, this episode taps into Bender’s wavering confidence as he realizes how short he is compared to the rest of the roster. It results in an episode where not only is there a full trip to Robot Hell (complete with another great part from the Robot Devil), Fry and Leela pilot a giant Bender like in Pacific Rim (with a cameo from Guillermo Del Toro), and Bender still ends up as the winner at the end of it all. It’s such a fun start for the season that even with as strong as some of these episodes are, it was just hard to top.
2.) Wicked Human
Futurama is always fun when it tackles religious topics, and that’s especially the case for “Wicked Human.” When it seems like the Rapture is happening, the Professor immediately tries to find out the real scientific cause of the situation. And like seen in the series’ past, his strong devotion to science takes on a religious tone and goes full cult with the Planet Express crew. There’s just so much fun with the idea of a Rapture and seeing which characters end up floating into the sky (and who’s left behind to deal with it), but the biggest laughs come with the reveal of what’s actually going on. It’s one of the funniest reveals of the season overall, and it really stands on the level of many of the classic episodes too. It’s just wicked fun.
1.) The White Hole
Futurama fans know well enough by now that the animated series really can knock its finales out of the park, and it’s absolutely the same case here. The best idea is saved for last as the opportunity to see the birth of a brand new universe sparks one of the most creative space adventures in the series to date. Making use of the fact that the crew will be copied multiple times (only for those copies to die out in seconds) leads to a rapid fire series of very morose gags, and it’s a good spotlight for what makes this crew shine in particular (especially Scruffy).
It’s also got one of the most gorgeous endings in the season both visually and on a narrative level, so it’s such a satisfying bow to put on just a great season of Futurama. If there’s any episode you see from Season 13 at all, make sure it’s at least this one you watch with Hulu.
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Image courtesy of Stage 6 Films -
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
